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<title>Shadows on the coast by acrosspontneuf (FangedAngel)</title>
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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24126835">Shadows on the coast</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/FangedAngel/pseuds/acrosspontneuf'>acrosspontneuf (FangedAngel)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Liberation [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, F/M, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Saarebas</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 16:15:42</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>855</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24126835</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/FangedAngel/pseuds/acrosspontneuf</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>She thinks of that as she looks at him, feeling the chains wrap around her. He looks like everything she’s lost, like everything that’s been taken from her. She takes a small degree of pleasure in having surprised him. He keeps staring at her scars and at her eyes like he has a right to witness them, and her magic burns inside her, screaming to be let loose.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Female Adaar/Iron Bull</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Liberation [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1740895</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>18</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Shadows on the coast</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sternenstaub/gifts">Sternenstaub</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Set before The Breaking of Chains, this instalment focuses on Saarea's first meeting with Bull aka a former saarebas and a ben hassrath are thrown together in uncertain times.<br/>Saarea belongs to the amazing <a href="https://sternenstaub28.tumblr.com/tagged/saarea-adaar">Stern</a>.<br/>Some liberties with canon have been taken and trauma is heavily implied.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>There is an oddly comforting quality to the Storm Coast when Saarea arrives that is quickly dispelled by the commotion occurring further down the beach. She jumps into the fray without thinking much of it, though the Chargers need little help in dispatching their targets.</p>
<p>Once the fighting dies down, she turns to meet the leader of these Chargers and everything in her freezes, her thoughts collapsing in on themselves. Her mind interprets the sight in front of her as a threat but she is unable to make the movement required to eradicate it.</p>
<p>He’s openly staring at her, his words faltering, his guarded expression allowing a flicker of surprise. They should have both expected each other but didn’t. Saarea will have words for Leliana later if she survives this. All the warning the spymaster had given her about the leader of the Chargers was to let her know the group would indeed be valuable but that the decision to recruit them was entirely up to Saarea.</p>
<p>She thinks of that as she looks at him, feeling the chains wrap around her. He looks like everything she’s lost, like everything that’s been taken from her. She takes a small degree of pleasure in having surprised him. He keeps staring at her scars and at her eyes like he has a right to witness them, and her magic burns inside her, screaming to be let loose.<br/>As the rest of the Chargers busy themselves with clearing the chaos on the beach, Saarea takes control of the situation to keep from losing it.</p>
<p>‘I hear you wanted to meet with me,’ she says in Common, and she can’t quite meet his eyes so she stares at his own scars. He doesn’t seem at all uncomfortable under the scrutiny and it makes her anger continue to flare as they both sidestep around their shared heritage.</p>
<p>‘I did, but I got to say I expected a Vashoth,’ he replies, tone affable and boisterous like she can be fooled by that.</p>
<p>‘That’s pretty much the truth of it,’ Saarea says, trying to keep her tone level, watching her companions sharing a drink with the rest of the Chargers just a few steps away from her. </p>
<p>She can still run. The knowledge gives her a small degree of comfort even though she knows that reality would not allow her to escape into anonymity ever again.</p>
<p>‘Pretty much doesn’t cover everything’, he says, and there’s so much about him that has her on her guard. He seems to pick up on this and changes the subject to finally introducing himself as the Iron Bull, leader of the Chargers. He offers her the services of his group and they exchange various quips about payments as Saarea tries to understand how much he knows about the Inquisition and how he came to learn of its inner workings.</p>
<p>She can hear the chains rattling, louder and louder, when the Iron Bull tells her about his role in the Ben Hassrath. The rattling, as ever, sounds a lot like screaming.</p>
<p>‘Why are you telling me this?’ Saarea asks, her anger evident now. She is also a leader now and she won’t be played for a fool by the Qun. They have no hold on her anymore, even if the shadows of the chains still torment her.</p>
<p>‘I figured the sky breaking is more important than anything else right now,’ he says with a shrug, and Saarea tries to look at him with only distrust and none of the bitterness of old fears. She fails but he doesn’t seem to notice.</p>
<p>‘Would you be joining us to help or to spy?’ she asks, her voice louder than she intends it to be but mercifully not cracking like she expects it to. </p>
<p>‘Those things aren’t mutually exclusive, Herald,’ the Iron Bull says, and it sounds like he’s joking but his expression remains serious, his eye fixed on hers. ‘We’d be an asset for you anyway, and information exchange goes both ways.’</p>
<p>He’s looking at her like he knows what her answer will be, and she’d hate him for it if she’d have the energy to do so. Saarea knows that he is right. She knows what Leliana would advise. It takes only one glance at the Chargers to know the Inquisition would benefit from their presence. Knowing even tidbits of information about the Ben Hassrath would be invaluable. She knows this. She also knows that she will become even more visible than before. The all-seeing eyes of the Qun will seek her out again. It is yet another sacrifice.</p>
<p>They both know only one answer is available to her, but Saarea makes him wait anyway. When the Chargers and her companions are done drinking, she stands before he notices her movement and he almost jumps up in his haste to follow.</p>
<p>‘Welcome to the Inquisition,’ she says, walking away from him before he has a chance to reply.</p>
<p>As she walks back to the illusion of safety provided by the Inquisition camp, she doesn’t turn to look back at the beach. She can feel him watching her anyway.</p>
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